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blazo |
blazo replied to topic 'Need to play banjo for few minutes far away. Options?' 11 days
blazo replied to topic 'Buying new banjo' 12 days
blazo replied to topic 'tone comparison of a skin vs plastic head on a Fairbanks Whyte Laydie' 14 days
blazo replied to topic 'How do I note a phantom hammer on in tableture?' 18 days
blazo replied to topic 'Anybody got any SING-ALONG songs for Thanksgiving party?' 23 days
blazo replied to topic 'Current USB Microphone Options' 23 days
blazo replied to topic 'Motorcycles, Minotaurs, & Banjos' 26 days
blazo replied to topic 'Clawhammer Picks - What do you use and why?' 31 days
blazo replied to topic 'Clawhammer Picks - What do you use and why?' 32 days
blazo replied to topic 'I have a confession to make.' 42 days
I still have the BSO that I bought a little less than a year ago to see if I could get serious about playing before dropping my hard earned cash on a good banjo. My original, bad banjo is a cheap, bottom of the barrel, entry level Fender, plywood rim, crappy tuners, narrow nut, no tone ring, and so on. It has lousy sustain, rapid decay and the strings are too close together for my liking. Hammer-ons and pull-offs typically sound pretty bad due to lack of sustain. I often hit other strings when trying to play clawhammer. I've been wanting to take a banjo to work so I can pick it up when I have a couple of spare minutes here and there and I've heard it said that a good player can make a crappy instrument sound decent.
I decided to pull the BSO out from under the bed and take it to work. I put on new strings and a decent bridge to try to improve the sound. It's helped a tiny bit. I do think, though, that practicing on this banjo will help me improve. I have to really work at getting tone out of hammers and pulls, both striking the string harder and pulling or hammering harder. I have to slow down and focus to hit strings cleanly (both striking and fretting) because they are a bit too close together. My other banjo seems easier to play and is more seemingly forgiving of mistakes. I think this lulls me into lapses and mistakes that I need to work on fixing and I'm hoping the increased focus and concentration gained by playing a bad BSO will stick when I play my good banjo.
6 commentsblazo has 2 friends.
![]() Ken LeVan ![]() |
![]() OldInTheNewWay |
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'My most recent build, #99' 21 hrs
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'Using tail piece to change tone.' 1 day
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'Using tail piece to change tone.' 2 days
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'Fit a tone ring by hand?' 4 days
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'Banjo "technology"' 5 days
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'Banjo "technology"' 5 days
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'Shortening scale on stock fretboard' 6 days
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'Shortening scale on stock fretboard' 7 days
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'Pinning vs. doweling' 9 days
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'Took resonator and flange off of banjo' 9 days
Ken LeVan replied to topic '2x4 Fretless Tackhead Build' 10 days
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'Shortening scale on stock fretboard' 10 days
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'flathead to archtop conversion kit' 16 days
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'flathead to archtop conversion kit' 16 days
Ken LeVan replied to topic 'Tony Pass Lost Timbre rim - which timber?' 16 days
Playing Since: 2017
Experience Level: Novice
blazo has made 37 recent additions to Banjo Hangout
Classified Rating: (+3)
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Visible to: Public
Created 5/16/2017
Last Visit 12/7/2023
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